Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-05-25
CHARLES LOFTEN,s WALK

OuU W VA3 clN VI UuC uuo, SlLcu uo Walk
ed on for some distance and turned up
the hill to the left and took the road
which leads down through Dead Mans
Canon.
AS he walked down the rough road
oe noticed a little child playing around
a pile of wood which her father had
ecen chopping.
Farther down he saw two girls at a
spring, and as the younger drank from
a tin pail she said to her sister, .'what
splendid water this is" - 90, r.
~5 Two men drawing stone loft their
horses and went to the girls for a drink.
Some negroes were laughing and
talking around a rough house on the
side of the bluff.
All these things Loften noticed as he
walked, and he also noticed two men,
evidently tramps, who sat on a stone in
a lonely part Of the canon talking in
low tones, which ceased entirely as he
came nearer.
Loften went out through the canon
and crossed the, tracks to the brewery,
where he was going to look at some
new machinery.
After he had examined the machine
be went up on the roof of the building,
from which there was an excellent view
of the valley.
He watched the river winding way
past cultivated lands and patches of
forests, dust sandy flats and rocky
bluffs. He noticed the tall sycamores,
with their white bark, scattered over
the valley. In the distance he could
see the piled-up stone and the tall
masts of the derricks for moving it
where a great bridge was being built,
and near by the cluster of houses cover
ed with tar paper, where the workmen
lived. On the outside was the CITY
with its towers and chimneys, and over
all the dark cloud of smoke. curling
upward. And then there was the
river again, and more flats and more
bluffs and more cultivated land, forest
and whitebarked sycamores. .
Loften went down and started for
home. As he went up the canon the
men still sat on the stone whispering
together. and again stopped when be
camo lear. ",, %&a:a. AR
! 1t was growing dark. The men who
had been drawing stone had left their
wagon by the road and gone for the
night. He met n old negro carrying
pail of water. There was no talking
before the house now. The spring was
deserted, and the water ran quietly
down the hill. The little girl and the
man who had been chopping wood
were gone too. .t
A, Near the head of the canon Loften
met a we'll dressed man going down.
They nodded as they passed and said
something about the bad walking. 5.@
Loften noticed that black clouds
were gathering, and when he reached
the top of the bluff it had become quite
dark. He took a car and went home,
and as he went into his house he heard
the roar of distant thunder. a.s,-, ,ss.a.
AS the flashes of lightning for a
/ second illumined the lower end of tho
Dead Mans Canon a we'll dressed man
lay in the road near the rock where the
two tramps had been whispering to-
gether-but the tramps were gone.
It was still moonlight when the
quarry-men started for their work.
The storm had gone by and the sky
was bright with stars. ..r. ~.
a As they entered the ano the pal.
ing of the moon indicated that the sun
! would soon be up and tho sky was. al.
ready growing red in the east. A
light mist foated among the tops. Of
the sycamore trees on the fats
Suddenly the men stopped.
Right before them on the road lay 6
man. His clothes were soaked by the
rain, which had fallen in torrents, anc
his white collar and cuffs were soilec
with mud. His head was covered will
mud and blood, and an ugly cash in his
throat showed how he had died. .
One of the men at once started fol
the town to notify tho authorities.
The coroner came and took charge
of the body, and men were set at worl
to try aud discover the murderer.
Inquiry at the brewery brought on
the fact that q strange man had beer
seen there late the previous afternoon
and an old negro testified to having
seen him going up the oanon A con
duotor on one of the cars said q maj
answering the description given by tn
men at the brewery and tho old negr,
had ridden on his a j. a grooer's maj
who happened to be driving byhad see,
this man and identified him as Loften.
When the officers came to his hous
Lotten was writing, and upon bein|
told that he was wanted went at once
thinking there was some mistake whic|
could be easily explained, and it wa
not until. brought before the magistrat
that he learned he was charged wit
murder.
He told his story as we have alread
done above, and pleaded his innocence
but the evidence against him SCENE
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